1 Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed generally to monitoring the performance of communications networks and more specifically to measuring inter-nodal transmission delays in a communications network.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The efficient functioning of communications networks is becoming increasingly important to the efficient functioning of large computer systems. Consequently, the ability to measure response times and the ability to determine the causes of communications network transmission delays are becoming increasingly important. There are currently several products in the marketplace that measure end-to-end response time. End-to-end response time is a measure of the communications network delay that is incurred in transmitting data between a host computer system and a user terminal. End-to-end response time does not, however, identify the causes of transmission delays. Accordingly, the need exists for a product that will determine the causes of poor end-to-end response time by providing measures of the transmission delays in the various links in the communications network.